你的睡眠质量合格吗？首份睡眠质量自测标准出炉

有些睡眠问题是很明显的：如果你整晚都在床上翻烧饼，或是每个小时都会醒来一次，那么你的睡眠明显是出了问题。但有时候，睡眠质量问题则并没有那么明显。而且直到现在，也没有一个官方的指标来定义到底怎样才是“良好的睡眠”。

好消息是，上个月全美睡眠协会在《睡眠健康》期刊上发布了一份“睡眠质量建议”，这也是有史以来第一份比较严谨的关于睡眠质量的推荐指标。这些指导标准是由一个医疗专家委员会在277份相关研究的基础上制订的。我们可以利用它给出的一些标准，测试一下自己的睡眠质量。

宾西法尼亚大学精神病学副教授、睡眠专家菲利浦•格尔曼指出，如果有人担心自己的睡眠质量有问题，就可以利用这些新标准进行自测。“它不仅能让人知道自己的睡眠质量是否不足，而且也能让一些以为自己睡眠质量很差的人明白，自己的睡眠质量其实还是在正常范畴的。（格尔曼并未参与这些新指导标准的制订。）

这些指导标准在好几个指标上都划出了“适当”和“不适当”的范畴。这些指标包括入睡所需的时间、每天夜里醒几次、从醒来到再次入睡的时间，以及睡眠时间与床上时间的比例等等。根据这些发现，成年人的睡眠质量至少应该达到以下标准——另外，格尔曼还提供了一些关于如何实现这些目标的建议。

能在30分钟内入睡

如果你在夜里需要半小时以上才能入睡，那很可能是由于两个原因：“要么对于你的生物钟来说，你上床太早了，你的生理和心理上还没做好睡觉的准备；要么你在睡前做了一些刺激性太强的活动。”

格尔曼还表示，长时间难以入睡是非常令人沮丧的，并且可能导致焦虑和持续性的睡眠问题。为了避免这一点，你最好把睡前一小时的时间用来做一些放松性的活动——也就是说，不要收发跟工作有关的电子邮件，也不要玩电脑。如果这也不管用的话，你可以推迟一些自己的睡眠时间，等你真的感到累了再上床睡觉。

每天晚上醒来（指五分钟以上）不超过一次

（对于65岁以上的老年人，每天醒来两次也是可以接受的。）格尔曼表示：“如果你夜里醒来几次，然后翻了个身又睡过去了，这并不是什么问题。”不过如果你担心你醒得太频繁是由于健康问题，那就应该去看看医生了。

“这有可能是胃酸反流的迹象，也有可能是吃饭与睡觉的间隔太短了。”他说：“也有可能是睡眠呼吸暂停症，或是由于其他疼痛或不适导致的。”如果你自己找不到一个明显的原因——比如你的狗睡觉时蹬了一下腿——那么下次就诊的时候，你就要向医生反映了。

能在20分钟之内重新入睡

（老人可能需要30分钟。）“一般在醒来后10到15分钟，我们的身体还保持着镇静和放松状态。一旦你过了这个时间点，你就会发现自己睡不着了，你的身体就会触发一系列反应，让你越来越清醒。”

格尔曼表示，一旦你醒来后超过20分钟还没有再次入睡，你就可以下床做一些放松的活动——最好不要看电视或者玩电脑。你可以看看书，听听播客，玩玩拼色板。这样做看似是反直觉的，然而这种分心恰恰是你的大脑重新进入睡眠所需要的。

在床上的时间有85%在睡觉

如果你能达到以上三个标准，那么达到最后一个也是水到渠成的事了。我们最好记住，卧室应该只是做两件事情的地方——睡觉和啪啪啪。他表示：“尽量不要把床用作其他用途”，尤其是看电视、玩手机或是做任何与工作相关的事情。

此次发布的睡眠质量标准已经获得了美国解剖学会、美国神经学会、美国生理学会、美国老年学会、人类解剖学与生理学会、生物节奏研究协会、人类发展研究协会和女性健康研究协会等健康组织的认可。

该论文的作者们表示，这些新指标可以帮助医生和患者更好地鉴别睡眠健康水平，而且也给数百万使用商用睡眠监测设备的消费者提供了很高的参考价值。

不过格尔曼也提醒道，不要过于轻信睡眠监测设备的数据。虽然睡眠监测技术已经被研究了很多年了，而且很多科研级的设备也相当不错，但商用级产品的精确性却是没有任何证据能够确认的。一些研究也表明，商用睡眠监测设备的精确度与科学家和睡眠医生所使用的科研级设备完全不在一个水平线上。

格尔曼表示：“它们可以提供一些有用的信息，但你对它的信任应该是有保留的。”他还表示，要想知道你的睡眠质量究竟怎样，你自身的感觉（无论是白天还是晚上）仍然应该是你最重要的指标。 （财富中文网）

本文原载于Health.com。

译者：朴成奎

Some sleep problems are obvious: When you’re tossing and turning all night, or waking up every hour, it’s clear that something’s wrong. But sometimes, sleep quality can be more ambiguous. And until now, there weren’t any real guidelines to define what, exactly, good sleep really is.

That changed last month when the National Sleep Foundation published a first-of-its-kind set of sleep-quality recommendations in the journal Sleep Health. These guidelines, established by a panel of medical experts and based on a review of 277 previous studies, include several measures people can use to determine how well they’re really sleeping at night.

Sleep-medicine specialist Philip Gehrman, PhD, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, says these new guidelines can be helpful for anyone who’s wondered if their terrible night’s sleep was as bad as it seemed. “Not only will it help people know when their sleep is poor,” he says, “but sometimes people think they are bad sleepers when really they’re in the normal range.” (Gehrman was not involved in crafting the new guidelines.)

The recommendations determined “appropriate” and “inappropriate” ranges for several indicators of good sleep quality, including the time spent drifting off, number of times you wake up at night, time it takes for you to fall back asleep, and percentage of total time in bed spent snoozing. Based on those findings, here are the goals adults should aim for—plus advice from Gehrman on how achieve them.

You fall asleep in 30 minutes or less

If it takes you longer than half an hour to fall asleep at night, it’s likely for one of two reasons: “Either you’re going to bed too early for your internal clock, when you’re not physically and mentally ready for sleep,” says Gehrman, “or you’re engaging in activities that are too stimulating before bed.”

Lying awake is frustrating, he adds, and can lead to anxiety and continued sleep problems. To avoid it, reserve the hour before bed for relaxing activities—that means no work emails or computer time. If that doesn’t do the trick, try changing up your sleep schedule so you go to bed later, when you actually feel tired.

You wake up—for five minutes or longer—no more than once a night

(For adults 65 and older, twice a night is appropriate, as well.) “If you wake up a few times and roll over and go right back to sleep, that’s no big deal,” says Gehrman. But if you suspect you’re waking up often because of a health issue, it’s worth talking to your doctor.

“It could be a sign of acid reflux, or eating too close to bedtime,” he says, “or it could be due to sleep apnea, or pain or discomfort.” If you can’t pinpoint an obvious cause—like your dog kicking while he’s dreaming, for example—mention it at your next checkup.

You fall back asleep within 20 minutes

(Older adults may take a little longer, up to 30 minutes.) “We usually have 10 or 15 minutes after waking up when our body is calm and relaxed,” says Gehrman. “But once you hit the point where you realize you’re not getting back to sleep, it can trigger a cascade of feeling more and more alert.”

When you hit the 20-minute mark, he says, get out of bed and do something relaxing—and preferably not TV- or computer-related—like reading a book, listening to a podcast, or coloring. It may seem counterintuitive, but the distraction could be what your brain needs to finally fall back asleep.

You’re asleep 85% of the time you spend in bed

If you follow the first three guidelines, this last one will likely take care of itself. But it’s a good overall reminder, says Gehrman, that the bedroom should be for two things only: sleep and sex. “Try to minimize the use of the bed for other activities,” he says, especially watching television, scrolling through your phone, or doing anything work-related.

The new guidelines have been endorsed by the American Association of Anatomists, American Academy of Neurology, American Physiological Society, Gerontological Society of America, Human Anatomy and Physiology Society, Society for Research on Biological Rhythms, Society for Research of Human Development, and Society for Women’s Health Research.

The authors say the recommendations can help both doctors and patients better define sleep health, and can also provide valuable context for the millions of consumers using commercial sleep trackers, as well.

Gehrman cautions against reading too much into sleep-tracker data, however. Sleep-tracking technology has been studied for years, and many research-grade devices are quite good, he says. But commercial products have little to no evidence to validate their accuracy, and several studies have shown they don’t work nearly as well as those used by scientists and sleep doctors.

“They can provide useful information, but they should always be taken with a grain of salt,” says Gehrman. When it comes to really understanding how well you’re sleeping, he says, how you feel—both while you’re in bed and during the day—should still be your most important indicator.

This article originally appeared on Health.com